Smiles
by The Scarlet Pumpernickel 2.0
Summary: A look at the different smiles of different Merlin characters. Not particularly groundbreaking but helpful  to me  to get a better idea of various character's personalities.
1. Arthur

_AN:  
><em>I got bored in class and wrote this, I don't know why but I think sometimes its good to write stuff like this to get a better idea of the characters.

_Thin, wry and knowing. Often grim and painful, sad and regretful. Rare._

Arthur wasn't accustomed to many smiles from his father growing up. It was gift enough when Uther acknowledged him, let alone showed approval. Arthur knew that on some level his father loved him, but he knew better that Uther hated to show it.

His father seemed to think that any sign of love of affection, pride was a show of weakness to Camelot's enemies. Rather than what it what it actually would have been natural and necessary. But as they say hindsight is twenty-twenty and no-one's hindsight was clearer than Uther's.

Whenever Uther smiled at Arthur these days it was no less rare, but it was more knowing. As in, 'oh Arthur I know why you were looking at that young noblewoman' as if he had any idea of Arthur's taste in women.

It was nothing more than a belated attempt to show understanding, and one that Arthur thought often fell short. The only other kind of smile that Arthur got nowadays as crown prince, (apart from the endangered prideful smile that arose when Arthur managed to defeat an enemy), was Uther's sad smile.

The way that Uther's face contorted whenever he thought of his late wife, the wife he never spoke of but whose death caused Uther's vendetta against magic. This smile was sad and regretful, and very similar to Uther's smile when he thought of Arthur's lost childhood. If Arthur was braver he may have analysed the similarities but he realised that he preferred not to think about it.

If Arthur Pendragon was fond of introspection he may have hoped that his father's smiles were less rare, and less sad. But he couldn't escape the fact that he was just glad that Uther remembered he existed.

_AN: Sorry I did not intend that to be so emo, I guess I always thought that Uther was a neglectful father. So caught up in his grief over Ygraine's death and his guilt and then his anger and rage over magic that he forgot he had a son. I don't know if anyone else thinks this, but I think that Arthur would be aware of this and feel somewhat sad._


	2. Gwen

_Small and hopeful. Intelligent and reassuring. Comforting, quick and slow. Loving._

Some people spend their entire lives afraid of saying something that will offend another. Tripping over their own words, in an attempt to placate. In most people this was annoying and yet in some people this bumbling, almost timid action was a mark of their personality.

Something that you had to get used to, but once you had when it stopped you missed it. Where his father's smiles had been few and far between, Gwen's were often and bright. She'd flash a smile at him from the corner of a room, small and almost painful to look at.

So hopeful, that he would become a great king, a wise king, her king. Sometimes these smiles hurt him, the hope vested in them. Hope that Arthur couldn't help but think was somewhat misguided and false. But when she smiled at him to comfort him, she couldn't help but smile back.

Despite everything that had happened they were still friends, and Arthur knew that he much preferred her slow evolving smile. Over her quick smiles, meant to placate him and cover up how sad or hurt she really was. A part of him hated those smiles, especially after what happened…

_AN: I finished school and I don't have much to do so, I've been writing… Anyway Read and Review please. _


	3. Morgana

_Gleeful rejoicing in reunion. Sexy and suggestive. Cruel, sarcastic. Snide smirk_

She was his surrogate sister, his best friend (before he learnt that that wasn't allowed). The woman that pushed prodded cajoled and sometimes screamed at him to improve. To do better, be better. Morgana…a woman he defied his father for, trusted, confided in, loved because she was practically his sister.

When his feelings developed for Gwen, Morgana was there supportive, sympathetic, and hopeful for their love. Why wouldn't she be? When Gwen was kidnapped no-one (save him) fought more for the need for her rescue than her. When they were reunited it was like family reuniting; gleeful like she was incomplete with the woman who had become _her _best friend.

Morgana used words like weapons, convincing powerful lords to ally with Camelot, and charming even the smallest child with her alluring smile. A smile that was provocative yet safe. Morgana's gift with smiles and words was good when they were used as weapons for good, for Camelot.

But as she fell into the abyss the pull of dark magic, when it Arthur discovered she _was _his sister her smile changed. Before it was sunny and happy, that was now merely a façade to cover the darkness of her real smile. Her smirk.

There was only one person that Morgana smiled for now, and she was gone. All Morgana had now been a smirk. That she used to laugh at the darkness of her heart and the doom that Arthur knew was to befall her.

_AN: It seemed to me that Morgana's ability to lie was a good thing in the first few seasons, before she became evil. Then it became bad because she turned it into a weapon against Camelot and thanks to princessozmaofoz I changed the order of chapters so Morgana came sooner. _


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